The Bryant Bulldogs held preseason baseball practices in freezing temperatures on a lacrosse field with snow pushed off to the side.

The Bulldogs played their first 18 games and 31 of their first 45 on the road or at neutral sites.

Their roster is made up exclusively of players from the Northeast, who were barely recruited or totally overlooked by bigger programs.

They've shown they can play with anybody and beat most opponents.

The team from the 3,500-student private school in Smithfield, Rhode Island, will start the week 39-10, a .796 winning percentage that ranks among the top five in the nation.

"Northeast baseball doesn't get the recognition and respect and coverage that teams in the ACC and SEC and out West do, but these guys are making people stand up and take a long look," said retired General Electric executive Bill Conaty, a 1967 graduate and baseball program benefactor.

Bryant first drew notice in 2013 when it beat Arkansas in an NCAA regional opener in its initial year of Division I postseason eligibility.

The Bulldogs made the national tournament again in 2014, and they're on track to go back this year with a team batting .318 and averaging almost eight runs a game.

The Bulldogs have had to overcome more than geography during their ascent. The program is able to offer only 8.5 scholarships — the NCAA limit is 11.7 — and divides them among 19 players.

The other 16 players are walk-ons. Scholarship and walk-on players alike must hope for an academic grant to offset costs at a school where it's $55,000 a year for tuition, room, board and fees.

Then consider that Bryant plays in the Northeast Conference, which is ranked 26th strongest among 31 leagues. The weakness of the NEC means a team could win three out of four games in a weekend series and still see its RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) drop.

The RPI is one of the tools the NCAA selection committee uses to compare teams when awarding at-large bids for the 64-team tournament field, which will be announced May 29.

For Bryant to position itself for an at-large NCAA bid, coach Steve Owens must schedule tough nonconference games, and the Bulldogs must win some of them.

This season they've beaten the SEC's Kentucky, the ACC's Boston College and the Big Ten's Maryland — all on the road or at neutral sites — and had an impressive No. 36 RPI on Sunday.

First baseman Robby Rinn (.378, 20 doubles, 52 RBIs) and center fielder Matt Albanese (.366, 11 home runs, 52 RBIs) are draft prospects who lead a veteran lineup. No. 1 starter James Karinchak (10-2, 2.36 ERA) has 86 strikeouts in 76 [1/3] innings.

Kentucky coach Gary Henderson, whose team lost 7-4 to Bryant in San Diego on Feb. 28, said he had seen the Bulldogs play and knew they would be tough to beat.

"The way college baseball has grown, there are good teams everywhere now, whether it's Corvallis, Oregon; Spokane, Washington, or Rhode Island," he said.

Critics say Bryant's record is a mirage and that its RPI is inflated. The formula is based on the performance of a team, its opponents and its opponents' opponents. More value is placed on road games, and Bryant has played lots of them.

Rinn said he and his teammates hear the naysayers.

"People are definitely going to knock us coming from the Northeast Conference," Rinn said.

"We can't give them a reason to think they're right. If we go (to the NCAA Tournament) and we lay an egg, people will be like, 'Yeah, they had a pretty good year, but it's just an NEC team.' We go down there and turn some heads, it's a whole different story."

Bryant began the process of elevating its athletic program from Division II in 2009. Conaty, a four-year starter at shortstop in the 1960s and chairman of the Bryant board of trustees, has donated nearly $7 million to upgrade the ballpark and build the Conaty Indoor Athletic Center.

The indoor facility, dedicated Saturday, will bring an end to the Bulldogs' ritual of holding early season practices in brutal conditions.

Pitchers in heavy overcoats and ski masks would shag batting practice, and they often had to reach armpit-deep into snowbanks to dig out balls. Muscle injuries tied to the cold were common.

Owens said the new building should help the team perform better in February games. The Bulldogs traditionally have struggled early, but they won eight of their first 10 this season for their best start since going Division I.

Barring a collapse, they'll be in the NCAA Tournament, and then anything is possible.

"Our goal is no longer just to get to the NCAAs," athletic director Bill Smith said. "We want to progress through the NCAAs."